Malesela explains Chippa return

Dan Malesela’s return to Chippa United caught many people, considering the fact that he vowed never to return to PE when he was sacked by the club in September last year.

However, the former Orlando Pirates defender made a shock return to the Chilli Boys this week.

“I’m happy to have returned to Chippa. There was a lot of things that I had set myself for [before being sacked] besides the club’s expectations. I’m one who doesn’t like leaving a club having not achieved anything, in terms of cups and all,” said Malesela.

“So this [the return] gives me the chance to fulfil my goals, but that would depend on the kind of squad we assemble. A lot of players are leaving the club, so we need to see what we have and be realistic and say, look, we can achieve 1, 2, 3,” added Malesela.

Malesela admitted it didn’t take a lot of effort for the club to convince him to come back.

“We didn’t deliberate too much, we didn’t take long to reach an agreement. You know, when you leave a club, then some dissatisfaction, but when I was at home, I thought about what Chippa the club and Chippa the owner had done for me. And for that I think I owe the man a lot.

“He [Chippa Mpengesi] is the only one who has recognised me as a PSL coach.”

Malesela described his time away from football coaching as “very tough”.

“There were people who were insinuating that I don’t miss football, they thought I’m well off, I don’t know why. Maybe they thought my wife is rich or something. But I don’t really depend on my wife.